Tony Horton Previews His New P90X Workout

Perhaps you've heard of a fitness phenomenon called P90X? The 90-day, at-home workout DVD program from Beachbody burst onto the scene a seven years ago promoting the concept of muscle confusion (meaning no plateau!).

After the huge success of the DVD series, founder Tony Horton and his crew have developed the high anticipated, kick-butt sequel to the phenomenally successful workouts, P90X2.

I chatted with the man behind it all, Tony Horton, to get a sneak peek at what we can expect with the new 90-day program. “People were saying ‘Hey I’ve done P90X 12 times,’ and I thought, ‘How many times can you listen to my jokes? Half of them aren’t even funny!’ I just felt like it was time to give people some new jokes, new moves, new sequences, new pace and brand new routines all together,” Tony says.

“Over the course of seven years, I’ve learned a lot when it comes to how to take things to the next level. We upped the ante,” Tony says. “There was so much phenomenal new information out there, so many great new moves and sequences that I knew it was time. P90X is the everyman’s extreme fitness program. P90X2 is a different beast; it’s for people that are already in pretty good shape.”

And while of course there are some sophomore-expectation jitters, Tony says “I made sure that I had all the pieces to the puzzle in the right place and made sure that I didn’t make it a one-man band. I had a team of people around me to make sure that we we’re able to do this thing in such a way that there would be a really great response.”

Here’s what’s different:

New schedule:Instead of P90x’s 6 days/week training schedule, X2’s schedule includes 5 training days, one rest day and one active rest day. “Take your indoor training and go outside. Go rock climbing, go biking or hiking” Tony says. “Take this level of fitness you’ve been able to achieve inside your house and go outside. Go meet other like-minded people. Here’s an opportunity to get really fit and then add sport to your life, it doesn’t have to be competitive.”

New tools:Expect medicine balls, stability balls and foam rollers to make an appearance in the X2 workouts. “Over the past three years, a foam roller has been an integral part of what I’ve been able to do when it comes to my rehab and recovery from routine,” Tony says.

New workouts:“There’s still yoga, but it’s a little shorter, because there were a lot of complaints that the 90 minute traditional Hatha routine was being skipped. So we tried to create one that’s about 60 minutes. The idea here is that more and more people will do it,” Tony says.

Another change: no cardio routines! “X2 doesn’t even have a cardio routine workout. But you’ll be soaking wet after the yoga, you’ll be soaking wet after the PAP Upper and Lower. They’re interval routines! They’re high-intensity, short bursts routine. These exercises, routines and sequences are much like what you would use in sport.”

New phasing:There are three phases in X2:Phase 1: The foundation phase is where you have to adapt to the new, unstable surface moves that are in the workouts to develop a solid base, Tony explains.Phase 2: This is the get-strong phase where you build upon the foundation you developed in phase 1. Phase 3: It’s about performance. This is the phase where the PAP workouts come it. “You don’t see the PAP workouts for the first two phases because your body isn’t ready to do them,” Tony says. “This is what I call the money phase, this is really where the change is. Your stability, strength, power and ROM is better, so you have this sort of swagger in phase three. If you’re 40 you feel 20, if you’re 60 you feel 35.”

What Can You Look Forward To?New moves like tricep dips on medicine balls and bicep curls in Warrior III pose!

Ready to up the ante? P90X2 is currently in pre-order phase which guarantees you’ll receive the program by the December holidays (and there’s also free shipping)! The pre-sale went live on September 1 and Tony said the site crashed because of the influx of orders! To reserve your copy today, visit P90X2.com.